


Securing Home

by KristinaDavidovna



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Spoilers, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Missing Scene, Natasha Romanov's Arrow Necklace, Where Was Clint Barton During Captain America 2?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-26
Updated: 2014-04-26
Packaged: 2018-01-20 20:04:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1523867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KristinaDavidovna/pseuds/KristinaDavidovna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set during Captain America: The Winter Soldier</p><p>Clint and Natasha were enjoying a quiet night in when she receives another call that she never wanted to have to hear. This time, it's a little harder to drop everything and go.<br/>Or, why Clint Barton was absent during Captain America 2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Securing Home

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: All characters mentioned are owned by Marvel. I am making no profit.
> 
> My headcanon for why Clint wasn't in The Winter Soldier turned into a 1600 word fluffy one shot. I don't write fluff. I'm so sorry, guys, I have no idea what's happening.

Natasha hung up the phone and silently stared at the wall in front of her, expressionless. Her hands turned her phone over and over, thoughtlessly reflecting the trouble revolving in her mind. Four minutes ago she was on the couch eating bad Chinese takeout with Clint and watching a marathon of some outrageous cop drama, both of them enjoying a rare night off together. Natasha had been tearing their interrogation techniques apart while Clint looked incredulous and reminded her it was just a show. It was a quiet and comfortable night in. Nothing was ever easy. Now she had a terrible sinking feeling in her stomach. Maria gave her the story, her usually steady voice wavering as she relayed what had happened – from the attack in the city until the attempt on his life in Steve’s apartment.

“Nat?” Clint said softly after a moment, worry evident in his voice. He shifted on the couch to turn his body fully toward her. “Natasha, what happened? What’s going on?”

“Fury.” Her voice was almost breathless. She spun around, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, eyes unfocused. “Fury’s been shot.”

“We need to go.” Clint started to stand. “Which hospital-“

“No.” Natasha blinked once and regained her composure. Putting her phone into her pocket, she stood straighter and met his eyes. “Something’s wrong.”

He scrubbed a hand over his face and relaxed back into the couch, silently waiting for her to continue.

“Fury asked Maria to get him off the grid while he was being attacked on the street. Made it to Steve’s apartment, which is where the assassin tracked him down, shot him from the roof across the alley.” Her voice was steady again, and she crossed her arms.

“Same guy?”

“Probably.” Natasha shrugged her shoulders, feet still unmoving from her spot on the floor. “I don’t believe in coincidences, not like these. But he’s got to be one of the best to pull off two attempts on one of the best spies in the world in the same day.”

“So,” Clint leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees, “Which part of this feels off?”

“Together? All of it.” Natasha threw her arms up in mild frustration. “Fury sent me to recover information on a SHIELD boat that had been taken by pirates. A day later someone orders a hit on him? And he ends up in Steve’s apartment _after_ asking Maria to help him disappear? I don’t know what it adds up to, but it doesn’t feel right.”

“What was on that boat?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know if Fury even knew.” She was quieter. Natasha moved over to the couch and sat down, curling her legs under her. “Hill doesn’t let any details slip unless they are crucial. Even when the situation is emotional.”

Clint moved closer to her on the couch and put an arm over her shoulders, drawing her in to him. Natasha buried her face in his neck and wrapped her arms around his torso, leaning into him. She let out a long, shuddered breath. Her instability hidden from the world by Clint’s body, all trace of Natasha’s worry engulfed by his broad shoulders and strong arms. The sounds of her shaky breaths disappeared into his neck. All of her fears and apprehension were safely tucked away on their couch and into Clint’s embrace. Weakness and vulnerability were notions she used against her enemies – play the damsel before flipping it back onto them; they were not emotions she displayed openly without having complete control of the situation. This was out of her control and she was helpless, so she clung to Clint, trusting him with this part of her she concealed from the world.

“He can’t die on me.” Natasha pulled back from him, staring at her legs.

“He won’t.” Clint’s hand traced patterns on her knee, keeping her head here with him, letting her know it was okay not to shut down and to feel scared.

“It’s ridiculous, but Fury’s the closest I’ve had to a father figure.” Natasha pursed her lips, “He’s always treated me like a person and not a weapon. He’s always respected me – even when you first brought me in. I’ve never wanted to let him down, you know? Sometimes I even think that he’s proud of me when he isn’t frowning.”

“Fury has facial expressions that don’t involve a frown?” He joked, feigning surprise. It earned him a snort, before she went quiet again.

“This is the third time I’ve gotten this call in two years.” Natasha said quietly, “This is bullshit.”

Clint laughed softly. “I guess you’ll have to go save the day again.”

“I guess so.” A sad smile played on her lips and her gaze met his. “I need you to set us up a new safe house, new covers. Someplace we don’t have any connections already. If Nick Fury is afraid of being found, we should be too.”

“Are you sure you don’t need me to come with you?”

Natasha shook her head, “No. I don’t know how this is going to play out, but I know I’ll need an exit strategy. I’ve already got dirt on my hands in this, you don’t need to get yours dirty too.” She paused and reached a hand up to the hollow of her throat, playing lightly with the arrow pendant that rested there, “But, I’ll keep a little bit of you with me the entire time. If anything goes wrong, I want everyone to know who is important to me, even if you’re not there.”

Clint just stared at her, amazed and kissed her. She’d bought the necklace for herself not long after he had moved his belongings into her apartment. Since New York they’d worked even less frequently together - she had been placed on a strike team with Captain America while he alternated between training new recruits and running boring reconnaissance ops in Eastern Europe for Fury. The first time he saw it around her neck he asked her about it and she just smiled and continued making dinner. She never said anything, but he knew that it had been her way of quietly announcing his importance to her, and their relationship to the world; always wearing it when she wasn’t working.

“You shouldn’t be so happy.” She looked at him seriously, “This isn’t a difficult clue to decipher if the same team who targeted Fury wants to take any other high ranking SHIELD agents out as a distraction.”

Clint kissed her again. He brought a hand up to her face and stroked her cheek with his thumb and smiled at her when he pulled back, “I know. I’ll be careful. I just can’t believe you said that. It was so cheesy.”

“I guess you’re rubbing off on me.” She deadpanned. Natasha leaned up to kiss him again, and then stood up. She grabbed her boots from the closet by the front door and pulled them on. Looking at him on the couch, with a look somewhere between love and concern on her face she said, “I want to have a home to come back to when this is all over.”

“I’ll set us up as soon as you leave.” He watched her pull on a green jacket, the creaking of the swinging hanger cutting through the silence of their apartment. He walked over to the door and leaned against the frame. “I hear that New Zealand is a nice place.”

“No, Clint. I mean that I need you to be okay. I don’t care where you set us up, I just need you to be there when I get there.” Natasha looked up at him through her lashes. “I’m not losing you again. Not now, not again.”

Clint pulled her into him one last time and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She wrapped her arms around his waist, breathing his scent in and memorizing the feel of him against her. “Nothing’s gonna happen to me. You be safe.”

Reluctantly, Natasha pulled out of his embrace. “Clint - Я тебя люблю.”

“I love you too, Natasha.” He opened the door for her, leaning against it as she moved through the frame. “I’ll see you in Auckland.”

“Auckland sounds good. Maybe we can be married in Auckland.” She walked out of the apartment and down the hall. She paused and turned back before he closed the door, “Set something up for Steve too. He’s new at this.”

He nodded and grinned like an idiot as he watched her disappear down the flight of stairs before closing the door. Sitting back down on the couch he could hear the tires of Natasha’s Corvette squeal as she peeled out onto the street. Clint didn’t even have time to turn the TV back on when he phone rang, the screen displaying Maria Hill’s name.

“Barton,” Maria said immediately after he answered, her voice slightly less icy than he was used to hearing, “I need you to go off the grid.”

“I’m already on it, Hill. Nat filled me in.”

“Good.” She paused for a moment, background sounds fading as if she were leaving a room. “You report your information to me and only me, do you understand?”

“I understand.” He thought for a moment, “But I’m letting Natasha know where I am. I will communicate with you and her. No one else.”

“Understandable.”

“I will update you when I have information.”

“Barton?” She said, voice laden with warning, before letting him hang up, “Keep your head down and watch yourself.”

“You too, Maria.” He responded sincerely. “Keep an eye on them.”

“I’m on it.”

“Thank you.” He hung up. Breathing a sigh of relief knowing Hill would be watching Natasha’s back in the event Fury wouldn’t be able to. Cracking his neck, he opened up his laptop and began setting up their new safe house on the other side of the world.

**Author's Note:**

> By the way, I've been to New Zealand and it was wonderful and I want to go back. 
> 
> And yes, the recon missions Clint was doing in Eastern Europe have to do with the Maximoff twins and Loki's scepter. Fury knows everything.


End file.
